Tattoni's in Trenton, now Casdeluna

[Rich Pawlak]

I received this e-mail from Mike Noreen, who read our Trenton Restaurants thread, but was unable to post on eG to post this news. Needless to say, we need to get out to this place to keep the Tattoni's flame alive!

To wit, Mike's e-mail:

Rich,

I was checking for Casdeluna on the web and ran across your egullet

comments.

I registered but couldn’t add a comment(!) but wanted to let you know that I

ate at Casdeluna (the old Tattoni’s) last night. I have previously reviewed

the restaurant at yelp.com.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/-eW5bWmm5tUNuZJP0Z...ojj8QtWzKzfMP6w

I ate there with two friends last night (an annual visit) and was

disturbed to see the name change. We were there so we figured we would try

it. We were the only three in the restaurant.

I was greeted by the waitress (assuming she was Mirna Castellanos the

owner?) who said it had the same menu. We went in.

I was happy to report a fabulous meal! The original owner sold to Mirna and

taught them how to cook the original specials. They watched him for a few

weeks, then he made them cook them. Last night we had the typical meal,

starting with the bruschetta, the salad (meats, cheeses, cantalope, etc.).

We then had a fabulous pasta with the marinara sauce (no crab or meat sauce

choices though as before) but the portion was 2x what Tattoni’s original

was. We had three entrees, the white Chicken Cacciatore, the Roast Pork, and

the Veal and Peppers.

Mirna said that business was VERY slow, even on the weekends, and I fear

this place will succumb to failure if we don’t get the word out.

The service was very good, the execution on the meals was excellent. Urge

your readers to try it. I hope they can make it!

[Rich Pawlak]

I went to the new Casdeluna tonight, and I have to say it was incredibly good. Portions are a little larger, service is very attentive, and, to my taste buds, the flavors are a little heartier and brighter. The food is served with tremendous enthusiasm.

There has been some minor decor changes, there is background music (which plays a bit too loud), but the food song remains the same. New owner Mirna Castellanos knew a good menu concept when she saw it, and thankfully she hasnt messed with it all, except to make some subtle improvements. There is still no menu, and dinner now is $23 per person.

The opening plate of bruschetta hasnt changed at all, nice baguette rounds topped with garlicky chopped tomatoes studded with mozzarella, a great opener. The cold antipasto came next, slightly larger than I remember, but still the same flawless romaine leaves, thick slabs of provalone, mortadella, capicola and salami, roasted red peppers, cukes, black olives and that unusual addition of sweet cantelope.

The pasta course is definitely a larger plate of spaghetti, with a choice of marinara, meat sauce, white or red clam sauce, and tonight, 2 special sauces, broccoli and mushroom. The twins split a plate of meat sauced spaghetti, and my adult dinin g companions chose white clam, while I opted for the broccoli sauce. The broccoli sauce is mostly stems rather than florets, but no matter, it was terrific, and just plain different. the white clam pastas definitely were better than I remember them, with more clams, and a more cohesive sauce.

We chose entrees of roast chicken, veal and peppers, chicken parmegana and roast pork. The entrees were larger prortions too, with 3 thick slabs of herby roast pork, beautifully turned out, a hefty cutlet of chicken parm, and a big oval plate of veal and peppers. But the table winner was the crispy-skinned, moist chicken. The kids loved it, and so did the adults , when we could snag a bite of it. It made me realize how satisfying a simply roated chicken could be. Witn the entrees came a large bowl of garlicky green beans, replacing the escarole and white beans previously served at Tattoni's, but the owner said that they also make that too some days.

Desserts offered were several pre-made sorbets (coconut, peach, orange), tartufo and raspberry tartufo, tira misu and a special of homemade rice pudding. The rice pudding was great, lightly cinnamoned. And the coconut sorbet was a bit too large and rich to finish. I also had an excellent cup of espresso.

So a dinner of 4 entrees, with a coupla Becks beers, and a coupla iced teas and 2 desserts was $116 before tip. A screamin, honkin, beat-the-doors-down deal for the priceless homemade quality of what we ate. And we had a decent sized doggy bag to take home too.

Run, dont walk to support a wonderful restaurant like this, and thank God the Tattoni's flame is being kept alive at Casdeluna.

Casdeluna

800 Chestnut St.

Trenton

[Rich Pawlak]

Bumping this topic up, with a terrific review in today's Trenton Times, from Susan Sprague Yeske:

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/times/inde...7170.xml&coll=5

I, for one, cant wait to go back.